Burying the Past
by angelDC
Summary: [ONE SHOT] Fuji went back to Japan after living in Los Angeles, California for 5 years to escape from the past. Wanting to live in a hermit world, will Tezuka be able break into Fuji's shell? FujiTezuka


**Burying the Past**

-clavee-

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Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! Here I am again, now with a Tezuka/Fuji fic. I know a lot of you were caught in dismay on my last fic, so this fic is to make up for that. I hope you will like this one-shot. Please read and review!:D

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

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"_Iie!!!" a pair of women's voice shrieked at the top of her lungs._

"_Aniki!" another voice called, panicked._

_Then just like a flash of light, there came an unbearable crash that never seem to end, however, in just a couple of seconds that seems to be forever, everything went black._

A young man quickly got up from his sleep; he was sweating madly and his body shaking terribly. For six months, his sleep has been haunted and invaded by the same dream that causes him to wake up everyday feeling heavy and miserable. Sitting on his bed, he slowly brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them tightly, biting his lower lip, he buried his face to his knees as he let his tears fall from his eyes. His petite figure and feminine features along with a hair that go pass his shoulders radiates vulnerability especially as he sat on his bed in a pitch black studio-type apartment.

--- --- ---

Tezuka Kunimitsu, a third year college student taking up Psychology, took a sip of his black coffee as he study his notes for his up-and-coming long test next week. He is hoping that the black coffee that he had ordered at the coffee shop he is staying at will keep him awake for the next twelve hours. Not that he still have a class, in fact, he is now free for the entire afternoon, it is just because he still have two academic papers to finish, even though he could just go home at the very moment to work on them, he do not feel like going home at the time being for some strange reason he could not comprehend.

Feeling as if he could no longer bare to reread his notes for the umpteenth time, he shut his notebook and stuffed it in his bag. He has been inside the coffee shop for an hour already and he knows that he can now rewrite his notes to other papers for hundred times or more without any difference from the original. But even if he could not let his guard down in order to sustain his slot at the Dean's List, everything has their limits, and he already had enough of studying that moment.

Finishing his coffee, he swung his bag on his left shoulder and walked out of the coffee shop. As he stepped outside, he took a few seconds from his own time to glance up at the bright blue sky. Sighing, he thought, '_Just like the eyes of an old friend of mine.'_ He smiled a little and shrugged his thoughts. He turned to his left ready to go to the nearest bookstore. However, he accidentally collided with another person smaller than him, causing the other person's things to scatter to the ground.

"Sumimasen, I didn't see you," the stranger said quickly with a soft voice as he kneeled down to pick up his things.

"Iie, it's my fault," Tezuka told the stranger, kneeling down as well to help him gather his things while staring at the person before him who appears to be a young man, wearing a signature sunglasses, probably the same age as him or younger with feminine features and movements, with a long brown hair tied in a neat ponytail, "I was the one blocking the way, gomen."

"Iie," the other said, smiling as he looked up at Tezuka, "it's my – _Tezuka?_"

Tezuka stared at the other intently, and asked, "You know me?"

"Iie, I don't," the stranger replied, hastily, thanking his sunglasses that he is wearing for hiding the surprise that definitely appeared in his eyes.

"But you –" Tezuka began.

"Arigatou," the other cut him off, as he neatly arrange his things in his arm and stood up to walk away as quick as possible.

Not wanting to let the other off the hook, Tezuka grabbed the stranger's free wrist as fast as his reflexes could go. Staring at the other man who do not seem to be a stranger anymore due to the sound of his voice and movements that seem to be so familiar to him, Tezuka asked, "Who are you?"

The other did not answer; he just looked away, hoping he could free himself from the other's tight grip. Unable to bear with his curiosity any longer, Tezuka stepped closer to the shorter man and reached out for his sunglasses. Caught by surprise, Tezuka widened his eyes and loosened his grip as he saw a pair of piercing blue eyes gazing intently at him.

"Fuji…" Tezuka blurted out in a whisper, completely letting go of the other's wrist.

Smiling widely but weakly, Fuji replied, "Hello, Tezuka…it's been –"

"Five years," Tezuka finished for him.

"Would you like to go to the park?" Fuji asked, "I'm on my way there to take some pictures for a photography magazine."

"Sure," Tezuka agreed, walking with Fuji to the nearby park.

--- --- ---

The two spent the whole afternoon at the park, Tezuka volunteered to watch over Fuji's things while Fuji goes over the place taking pictures of people, birds and trees. Fuji told him all the things that happened while he was in the Los Angeles, California with his family for five years, making Tezuka forget the questions he wants to ask. Fortunately, they decided to go to a restaurant to eat dinner.

"So, how long have you been here?" Tezuka asked after the waiter left them.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you that?" Fuji replied and Tezuka nodded. Laughing a little, Fuji answered, "I've been here for three months."

"Three months?" Tezuka repeated, "Besides your family, who among us knows that you're here now?"

Fuji drank some water, and said, "_No one._"

Tezuka stared at him for awhile, noting the blank expression from Fuji's face, before asking, "No one? You mean not even Kikumaru? As far as I know, he's the one who have kept in touch eith you.

"Not even him," Fuji answered, "actually I haven't been answering his e-mails for six months."

"Why didn't you inform anyone that you're here?" Tezuka asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Fuji replied, staring at his glass of water, "I don't want anyone to know, you wouldn't have found out that I'm here if you didn't literally bump into me." He finished with a chuckle.

Not wanting to press onto the subject, Tezuka asked, "Your family? How are they?"

"They're…_fine_," Fuji answered, not changing his facial expression.

Tezuka's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and asked, "Are they here with you?"

"Iie, they can't come here," Fuji told him, smiling slightly as he looked up to him.

"Why?" Tezuka asked further.

"_They just can't_," Fuji answered in a gentle yet firm manner.

Tezuka would have asked more about the matter if only the waiter did not arrive with their orders. The two of them began eating quietly. As Tezuka watched Fuji while eating, he was asking himself, '_What's wrong with him? There's something amiss…'_

"Ne, Tezuka," Fuji began, breaking into Tezuka's thoughts, "are you dating anyone? Or have you dated anyone already?"

Tezuka almost choke at the question but was able to regain control of himself at once by taking a sip from his iced tea, he then answered, "Iie, I'm not dating anyone nor I've dated anyone, why did you ask?"

Giggling, Fuji answered, "I'm just plain curious, what's wrong with that? After all, back in our junior high, there were already a lot of girls swarming over for you. So, you haven't met any girls that met your standards?"

"It's not that," Tezuka said, "I'm just not interested as of the moment, how about you?"

"Me? I had," Fuji answered, "I had three girlfriends back in the States, though neither of us was really serious, the longest I had was just a year and a half with my last girlfriend."

"So, the great tensai is breaking hearts back there, huh?" Tezuka replied, teasing.

"You know what, you've changed," Fuji said, chuckling at his friend's comment, "but to answer your question, I didn't break anyone's heart back there."

'_But back here, you did…you broke mine, when you left,'_ Tezuka said to himself while smirking at Fuji's answer.

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Lying on his bed, Tezuka decided to work on his academic papers tomorrow morning since he do not have any classes the next day. But what he was looking forward to it to spend more time with his long lost friend, Fuji Syusuke. Despite feeling confused while he was with him, he could not help but feel glad. Pulling out the drawer of his bedside table, he took out some pictures from his junior high with his tennis teammates, and lingered his eyes at his and Fuji's picture that was taken on their graduation. Tezuka smiled a little as he stare at Fuji, noting his eyes that was surprisingly wide at the picture and also his smile that shows the happiness he was feeling that time.

'_If I told you what I feel about you, would you feel the same? Would you have stayed?'_ Tezuka asked, frowning, '_If I tell you now that I still love you, do I still have a chance? Would you love me back?'_

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Tezuka climbed up the stairs to reach Fuji's apartment which is at the third floor. He is planning to invite Fuji to his house for some dinner since he have told him the day before that he just eat his dinner on fast food chain which, in Tezuka's opinion, is not healthy. He took note of Fuji's pale complexion last night when he dropped him off in the apartment he is in right now and it did worry him slightly. However, the former tennis tensai declined so Tezuka just decided to bring him some home-cooked food courtesy of his mother.

It was already nine o'clock in the evening when Tezuka reached the apartment and he cannot help but to curse himself inside for being late. He had finally reached the third floor and went straight to the farthest unit in the corridor. The lights in the corridor were dim and he almost missed the frail figure that was slumped down on the wall beside the door of the unit he is going to.

"Fuji!" Tezuka called as the sight of the person slumped on the floor registered to his line of vision. Tezuka quickly ran to him, he smelled alcohol coming from Fuji and concluded that he is drunk, so he quickly searched Fuji's pockets for the keys of his unit. As soon as he found the key, he quickly brought Fuji inside the studio-type apartment and made him lie down on the bed.

Tezuka placed the food he brought to the table and rummage the kitchen to heat some water for Fuji. After thirty minutes, he had finally calmed himself down as he was able to do the things he had to do for Fuji. Pulling out the chair from Fuji's desk, he sat beside Fuji's bed and stared at the other's sleeping form. Leaning at the backrest of the chair, Tezuka felt himself falling asleep as well.

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Tezuka opened his eyes and check his watch which read – _6:00 am_. He stood up and began stretching, apparently, having a slight backache from sleeping at the chair. He turned to Fuji who was still sleeping soundly, knowing his classes will still start in the afternoon, Tezuka decided to stay for awhile in the apartment to look after Fuji. Putting the chair back to its original place in the desk, Tezuka caught a sight of newspaper articles on the surface. Looking back to see if Fuji is nearly awake, he turned back to the desk and began to read the articles. The newspaper articles were in English and Tezuka saw that they are from various newspapers from Los Angeles, but what struck him most is the content of each and every article.

Turning to his right side, Fuji slightly opened his eyes to the bright new morning but felt a pang of headache. Sitting up, he then noticed his companion in the room but his eyes widened as he saw him standing before his desk and reading all the articles he left lying around the surface. He quickly got up from his bed despite the soaring headache he is feeling and went to Tezuka who turned to him at that precise moment.

They just stared at one another; Tezuka waiting for Fuji to talk and Fuji waiting for Tezuka to ask. Knowing that Tezuka wants him to just start talking, Fuji shrugged and went to his desk and hid all the articles in a folder, asking, "What are you doing here?"

Knowing that Fuji will not start talking, Tezuka just answered his question, "I went here last night to bring you some food, and I found you outside your unit, unconscious. You were drunk, actually."

Walking back to his bed to fix it neatly, Fuji tried to remember what had happened last night, and said, "Indeed, I just went out for a drink in some bar before coming home, you brought me inside my unit?"

"Hai," Tezuka answered.

"Arigatou," Fuji replied.

"You know, Fuji, if you want to say something, I would listen," Tezuka said, sitting down on the chair he had slept on the whole night.

"Well, if you want to know something, Tezuka, you can ask me, I would try to answer them," Fuji retorted back, not looking at him.

Tezuka sighed, he does want to ask a lot of questions but he does not know which one he should ask first so he just remained quiet.

Waiting for a series of questions to be thrown at him, Fuji shrugged as none of them came his way. Sighing, Fuji sat down on his bed, and began, "It was raining hard, we were driving down a hill – I was the one driving, actually – the road was slippery and there was a truck coming our way and the driver didn't expect us coming, so he lost control of the steering wheel causing the truck to lose its tracks. I tried to avoid any collision with the truck but I failed, I even made the situation worse, the car fell of a cliff, all of us were in it – okaasan, Yumiko-neesan and Yuuta were at the back of the car while otousan was beside me on the passenger's seat. I was so scared that I let go of the steering wheel, after that, I just woke up on a hospital bed three days after and the last thing I remembered are their screams."

"They didn't survive, right?" Tezuka asked his voice almost inaudible.

"Hai," Fuji answered, staring at the floor, "the doctors told me that Yuuta did survive but he died the day before I woke up, the company that owns the truck took care of everything so I guess it was fine, at least."

"Is this why you came back here?" Tezuka asked, sitting beside him.

Fuji nodded, and said, "I want to forget about the accident, but I guess I couldn't easily escape it. It haunts me every night in my sleep…I mean it's my fault why it happened so how could I?"

Tezuka stared at Fuji and he unconsciously wrapped his arms around the other, saying, "It's not your fault, it's just –"

"I wish I could just drop dead every time," Fuji said, cutting him off, tears started to fall from his eyes, "I couldn't bear to live knowing I was the only one left…"

"Don't say that," Tezuka whispered to Fuji's ear, tightening his embrace, "it's not you fault, alright? There's a reason of all the things that happened…you just have to continue living your life."

"I can't," Fuji said, holding onto Tezuka, "I don't have anyone with me anymore, how am I supposed to live?"

Tezuka tilted Fuji's head up to meet his gaze, and said, "I'm here, so you don't have to worry anymore."

"You don't understand," Fuji replied, looking away from Tezuka's eyes, "I don't want to be with anyone anymore, that's why I didn't tell anyone that I'm back here, I'm afraid to lose all of you…and I'm afraid that all of you will be gone because of me."

Sighing, Tezuka made Fuji face him again, and said, "Again, it's not your fault. And I promise that we'll not going to leave you…_I'm not going to leave you_. You can't go on alone; you'll need someone to be with you."

Fuji stared at Tezuka for a moment, and asked, "Why are you being like this?"

Tezuka smiled a little, and answered, "For being with you is the dream I long to come true…"

Widening his eyes, Fuji muttered, "I don't understand."

"Then I'll make you," Tezuka told him as he pressed his lips gently to Fuji's. Caught in surprise, Fuji gasped, making it possible for Tezuka deepen the kiss. After a moment or so, Tezuka pulled back to get some air. Slightly panting, he asked, "Now, do you understand?"

"Te-Tezuka…"

"_I love you, Syusuke…_" Tezuka said, cupping Fuji's cheek, "I have loved you ever since we played a match back in junior high, from then on, _I never stop loving you…_" he continued, staring intently at Fuji's eyes, "I always remember you especially during sunny days when the sky is as blue as your eyes, but it also hurts me since every moment I look up, the sky reminds me how far you are from me…" he added, frowning slightly, "I felt my heart shattered when you left, it was so hard for me to keep a straight face when I went to the airport to see you off, I thought I could never see you again, _but never did I try to forget you_ for I know I'll never will, I promised myself that I'll look for you but I was so happy that you came back here and I happen to be the person that found you, _you don't know how happy I am until this very moment_."

"I – I don't know what to say," Fuji replied, completely touched by the words Tezuka have said.

Smiling, Tezuka said, "You don't have to say anything, all you have to do is let me inside your life, I'll be your family from now on…_I'll never leave you_."

"But you said you love –"

"About that, I'm not going to force you to love me, I'm willing to wait but if you really can't, I'll still remain to be your friend," Tezuka assured him.

Fuji smiled and hugged him, saying, "I've loved you before, maybe if I only knew that you feel the same I would've jumped off the plane to stay with you…but I didn't stop loving you as well, I just don't know if I still deserve to be loved by you, I've changed in so many ways, I may no longer the Fuji Syusuke you've loved."

"I don't care about that, just move on and sooner or later, you'll be able to forget everything that happened," Tezuka said, returning his embrace, "besides, no one deserves my love as much as you do, you're the reason why I've been so alone all these years."

Smiling widely, Fuji pulled away from Tezuka and kissed him, passionately, thinking, '_Now, I have a future because of you…arigatou.'_

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Additional AN: What do you think about it? It's a long one-shot, I would love to write a long one but I can't think of a good story…now, this is for all the Tezuka/Fuji fans that I've disappointed. Hope you somehow forgive me now:p Watch out for more Tezuka/Fuji fics! Thank you!


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